Bulan: Maret 2013

In his book, The Future of Life, biologist Edward O. Wilson had this to say about the first time he laid eyes upon the rare Sumatran rhinoceros in the flesh: “One of the most memorable events of my life occurred on a late May evening in 1994, in a back room of the Cincinnati Zoo, when I walked up to a four-year-old Sumatran rhinoceros named Emi, gazed into her lugubrious face for a while, and placed the flat of my hand against her hairy flank. She made no response except maybe to blink her eyes. That’s it; that’s all that happened. No matter: I had at last met my real-life unicorn.”

The unicorn is an imaginary creature that symbolizes purity. It was first described by Ancient Greek naturalists as a species that inhabited the distant land of India. Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) spoke of the…

If you’re a fan of Hello Kitty and Vans sneakers, you’re going to love hearing that they’ve partnered together. I was just walking by a store a few days ago and snapped this picture:

There are 6 designs for kids and 6 designs for adult shoes (that’s right ladies and men, we can get them too!). These were my favorites:

You can see all the designs and buy the Hello Kitty Vans shoes here. Kids shoes cost $32 while adult sizes ranged in cost from $50 to $55. If you want to find a store that sells them, check out the Vans search tool here. The Hello Kitty Vans line is limited edition and only came out this month.

From September to December of 2007, the Penang International Lantern Festival in Malaysia featured Hello Kitty and her friends. Below are a couple of pictures taken by a visitor who attended. The carefully crafted lanterns were spread out on 4 hectares and illuminated with 20,000 light bulbs. The theme was Hello Kitty and Friends in Penang Safari.

That’s the message that retired Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming has for his fans back home, many of whom believe that rhino horn has powerful tonic or curative properties. Unfortunately, these traditional, but mistaken, beliefs have fueled an increasing international trade in rhino horn that ultimately threatens the survival of the world’s five remaining rhino species. Yao visited Kenya last year to observe the desperate situation firsthand. He is working closely with the organizations Wild Aid and the African Wildlife Foundation to stop rhino and elephant poaching by creating public awareness of the slaughter involved in bringing illegal horn and ivory to market. Billboards at airports across China and graphic online videos tell the gruesome story and present stark statistics to would-be consumers. The campaign slogan – When the Buying Stops, the Killing Can Too!

Rhinos are broadly split into two categories – grazers and browsers – based upon their style of feeding and the types of food they eat. Grazers prefer grasses and typically feed low to the ground. Browsers favor leaves, twigs and hanging fruits, which often focuses their attention above eye level. Grazers might be likened to lawn mowers, heads held low and broad mouths sweeping the ground. Browsers are more like pruning shears, with narrower, prehensile lips reaching upwards into the trees.

The wide-mouthed white rhino of Africa is the consummate grazer. Short grasses are its favorite foods. The greater one-horned or Indian rhino is more difficult to categorize – sometimes a grazer and other times a browser. It likes tall grasses, but also consumes leaves, branches and submerged aquatic plants. The black rhino, which may share African grassland or savanna habitats with its white rhino cousin, is a browser that…